Iraq

The fragile political situation and weak rule of law have transformed Iraqi society into an unsafe environment for development and stability. Iraqi women face difficult conditions, bearing more responsibilities and responding to numerous challenges. Every day women and girls are forced into marriages, murdered for the sake of “honour,” coerced into committing suicide, beaten, raped, trafficked into sex work and restricted in their autonomy and mobility. Arising opportunities must be seized not only to promote the social rehabilitation of the country but also to encourage and support new institutional structures, legislation and its enforcement for the protection of women’s political, economic, social and cultural rights.

National reconciliation in Iraq represents the second non-Western Arab application of a reconciliation endeavor following Morocco’s Justice and Reconciliation effort. Due to its relative recent application and the problems it has faced and is still facing, it was necessary to examine this effort in analytical detail, the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI) and Iraqi Al-Amal Association (IAA), supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), assigned a number of scholars to conduct an extensive study that spans several central issues, the study addresses the roles official and unofficial political and civil institutions play in the process of reconciliation, their positions toward reconciliation and their accomplishments within its framework. This book is a complete content of those studies, which we hope to have met their desired objectives in the most objective and precise manner possible in an attempt to attain the desired benefit in serving Iraq and Iraqis.

The 2005 Iraqi Constitution strove to include a number of positive measures for women’s empowerment; however, a culture of equality of access and opportunity is needed in addition to legislation. During this transition period, women have not only lost most of the benefits hitherto provided by the State; they are disproportionately affected by the shrinking of the State’s power, the insecurity arising from political instability, the breakdown of economic activities due to the war; and the deterioration of social structures. Increased violence against women requires urgent intervention from all actors in society.